


Mechanical Heart

by phantomthief_fee



Series: BATIM Drabbles [9]
Category: Bendy and the Ink Machine
Genre: Bertram has a heart, F/M, Optic ink au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-08
Updated: 2018-06-08
Packaged: 2019-05-19 19:43:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 738
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14880002
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/phantomthief_fee/pseuds/phantomthief_fee
Summary: There are very few people Bertram can stand at Joey Drew Studios, but Lacie is one of them





	Mechanical Heart

[@metamatronic](https://tmblr.co/mG_ILTJBGnwhICfZV78z28A) has now made me ship Lacie and Bertrum. I blame [this](http://queenofcats17.tumblr.com/post/174542106035/metamatronic-some-post-ink-lacie-and-bertie-i). 

* * *

There were very few people Bertram could stand in the studio and few people who could stand him in return. Bertram knew full well that he wasn’t the easiest to get along with, and sometimes that  _did_  bother him. But when it came to Joey Drew Studios, he didn’t care what people thought of him. Joey Drew had absolutely no respect for him, so why should he have any respect for Joey? That stupid nickname, constantly undercutting his efforts and stealing his credit. Bertram hated the man with every fiber of his being. And that hatred seemed to extend towards Joey’s employees as well. He knew they didn’t deserve his ire, but when he’d met them he’d been in a bad mood, so they just assumed he was an asshole and stayed the Hell away from him at all times. Lacie, though…Lacie was different. She seemed to think he was actually a nice person under all his irritation. 

“Sooner or later, you will get tired of this fruitless endeavor.” Bertram looked at Lacie over his clipboard. She was fixing one of his rides, which meant he was supervising. Bertram’s rides were his babies and he trusted very few people with them. Lacie happened to be one of them, due to how capable she was with machines.  


“Maybe I will, maybe I won’t.” Lacie shrugged before going back to tightening the bolt on the arm of the machine. “But that’s not for you to decide, Bertie.”  


“I’ve been telling you not to call me that,” Bertram grumbled. Normally he couldn’t stand when people called him Bertie. It was different with Lacie.  


“I’ll stop callin’ you Bertie when you actually want me to stop.” Lacie gave him a big grin. Bertram felt his face heating up and hid behind his clipboard, muttering about what a troublesome woman she was. Lacie snorted, going back to her work.   


As the weeks passed by, Bertram found himself slowly opening up to Lacie. She was the one person he could open up to. She understood and listened patiently as he ranted on and on about Joey. 

“The one thing I ask is that he use my fucking name!” He yelled, pacing back and forth in the attraction storage room. “It’s as though he has no respect for me whatsoever!” 

“It’s just Joey being Joey,” Lacie assured him from where she was taking her lunch break. “He’s a little shit sometimes. You just gotta put your foot down. Let him know you won’t take it.”

“I’ve tried that!” Bertram groaned and ran a hand through his hair. “He won’t listen!” 

“Give him a bad nickname then,” Lacie suggested, taking a bite of her sandwich. “Annoy him into stopping.”

“That’s-!” Bertram stopped mid-yell. “That’s…actually a rather good idea.”

“I’m a genius.” Lacie smiled lazily. “No need to thank me.”

Bertram knew he could trust her and somehow…That made him feel warm inside. He’d been in love before, of course, but it had never worked out. He figured this wouldn’t work out either, especially after he got turned into an amusement park ride and she ended up an animatronic. He resigned himself to his fate, stuck in the lower levels in Attraction Storage. It wasn’t like anything in his life was working out. Why would his relationship with Lacie be any different? Lacie, though, had no such reservations. Despite being rebuffed when they met up once more, (she’d sought him out in Attraction Storage) she persisted in melting his heart once more. 

“I’m an animatronic, you’re a park ride, tomato-tomahto.” She said, shrugging. “Could be worse?” Still, he stood firm, arms folded. Besides, there could be people watching. Even after all these years, he didn’t want to jeopardize his standing at the studio. No one could know he actually had a soft side. They would never let him live it down. He would lose all the respect and fear he’d cultivated.   


“Bertie?” She snapped her fingers a few times in front of his face. “No one else is here, Bertie. It’s okay.” Almost instantly, he folded into her arms. He started to sob into her worn sweater, still so soft and cozy even all these years later.  


“I’m glad you’re alive.” She said, patting his back.   


“I’m glad too….” He sniffled.   


They had each other, and they were going to be alright.

**Author's Note:**

> Bertram is slowly starting to grow on me.

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [Monster Back and Forth, Broken To and Fro](https://archiveofourown.org/works/16634540) by [Control_Room](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Control_Room/pseuds/Control_Room)




End file.
